This invention relates to lens and haptic structures having application as intraocular lens implants, or as extraocular devices for contact application to the cornea, for wear in place of spectacles.
As intraocular devices, such structures and methods of making the same are illustratively treated in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,709, and as extraocular devices, such structures are illustratively treated in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,329.
Design philosophy behind intraocular and extraocular devices of the character indicated holds that the lens element shall be an optically finished unitary part, and that associated haptic structure shall be a separate thin flexible part or parts devised and assembled for central support of the lens element and for suitably compatible stabilized referencing engagement with adjacent body features.
There is another category of intraocular lens, exemplified by Choyce, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,866, wherein lens and haptic structure are the integral product of plastic-molding. But such products do not lend themselves to fabrication with glass, nor to known glass-lens finishing techniques. Moreover, injection-molded plastic materials are inherently incapable of providing the optical quality and uniformity that is available from glass and from certain plastic materials which are available in flat-sheet form.
My copending application, Ser. No. 288,217, filed July 29, 1981, Pat. No. 4,402,579 is concerned with structures and methods, involving intraocular and extraocular devices of the character indicated, wherein the starting material is a single flat sheet of glass or suitable plastic, and the present application is concerned with similar devices wherein the starting material is a composite laminate of different materials.